I’ve spent some time making chutney and jam this week. As you’ll know we’ve had a bumper crop of apples, and also have a few large pumpkins, so I’ve been focusing on what I can do with one or both of those. So I’ve made pumpkin and apple chutney and pumpkin and ginger jam. We’ve also had some roast pumpkin to go with various meals – still plenty of pumpkin left!

I’ve also been looking at an old (c.1974) map of my area, and comparing it to a more recent – but still 12 years old (c.2005) – map of my local area. It reminds me that next time I’m near a bookstore to try and see if there’s something more up-to-date. There’s been a lot of change, mostly development, in the area in between the two editions. I’ve been trying to explore more of my local area on foot, partly to find different routes that I can walk the dogs, but also because I’m aware that so much is changing it all the time, some areas have changed a lot since I was last there.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Work –A couple of meetings and a few things going on this week. I seem to be back in the development zone of work for the time being, with all of the outstanding proposals etc. now known quantities. I suspect that’s how it will be for the next week or so too.

Allotment. – I’ve been mostly digging this week. Getting beds ready for my garlic and onions, and I think that I’m just about ready to start planting. Still more digging on the rest of the plot, but I have prepared enough space for my aliums, and also my overwintering broad beans, which I’ll put in a little later on next month.

Otherwise the turning of the seasons and the colder nights have caused a few things to start dying back, my cucumbers plants are turning brown due to those colder nights.

Currently Reading – I finished reading “Moods of Future Joys” by Alastair Humpreys [GoodReads], the first part of his epic cycling adventure around the world. It was interesting to read how his journey changed from his original plan following the September 2001 attacks and how his plans of going through Iraq and Afghanistan changed, instead going through Syria and through Africa. I’m not sure now with the current geopolitical climate that even his revised route would be viable now. I haven’t started the second book yet.

Instead I started a reread of J R R Tolkein’s “The Two Towers” [GoodReads]. I read The Fellowship of the Ring last year, meaning to reread the entire trilogy, but with other events taking over I never got a chance. I might go onto the Return of the King after I finish The Two Towers or I might save that for another time.

Books for Sixth Graders – My good friends Will and Maria are sixth grade teachers at a school in Tijuana, Mexico. Their school library has become pretty denuded of books and they’re trying to build the library back up. The schools budget is stretched and isn’t able to support buying all the books needed, so they’ve launched a wishlist of the books they’d like. I’ve bought a couple of my own personal favourites from the list and they’re on the way (nice to see that some of the books I read when I was at school, are still on the curriculum lists). If you’d like to help them too, please click on the link, the books are delivered directly to them via Amazon. If not no problem.

IT – I haven’t been to see IT yet, although I do intend to if I can find a free afternoon at some point. There are of course lots of articles out there with backstories to the film and comparisons to the earlier TV mini-series. There are a couple that I’m going to link to, but there are many more out there along the same lines if you’re interested.

The first is the authors experience reading IT over the summer ahead of the film coming out in the autumn.

The second is a tour of some of the places in and around Bangor, Maine that inspired or featured in some of King’s books and films.

Still On A Stephen King Theme –

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I picked up a couple of DVDs which were on offer at the local supermarket when I was there doing my grocery shopping this week. Both are adaptations of Stephen King’s books of Salem’s Lot and The Stand. I’ve never seen The Stand, but I remember Salem’s Lot giving me a good scare when I was a kid. I was curious to see how they stood up. I haven’t watched Salem’s Lot again yet, but I was told it is still a good watch. I did however watch The Stand, or at least started to. It’s pretty dire, and I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be finishing it.